Environmental
Stewardship
Alliance
|
Environmental Stewardship Alliance |
|
|
STEWARDING A SITE
Restoration projects at Promontory Point begin by indentifying a location and choosing its boundaries. This is done by determining what type of ecosystem is present and the opportunities and issues of possible restoration. Area and soil type are calculated and adjacent land use and its affects are also taken into account. Once the project gets the go, determining which invasives are present and what kind of timeline will be involved for their removal are the next steps. Tools and equipment are supplied to the steward who will remove blackberry brambles to about a foot tall and then grub out as much of the roots as possible. Ivy and clematis, which can strangle and kill trees, must be cleared away from trunks and as much of the root system removed as possible. A management plan is implemented so that the reappearance of these invasives can be dealt with. Trees such as holly and hawthorne are not as easy to remove and Parks personnel are brought in to cut them out and treat the stumps preventing further spread. Just as important as cutting back and clearing away damaging invasives is the process of planting and caring for the native species of trees, shrubs, and groundcover animals and birds rely on. Reforestation is the top priority and the planting of trees the main goal of each project. Habitat is also an important consideration and the use of fruit-bearing shrubs and groundcovers to create an understory help to enhance the ecosystem. Lastly, habitat itself is built up with the use of brush piles, rotting logs, rocks, woody debris and, most importantly, mulch in the form of wood chips layered thickly to help retain moisture, suppress weeds, and add beneficial nutrients to the soil. Once a project has reached the stage where the plants are in the ground irrigation is the next step. You may see flags, tagging tape, and rows of black irrigation line snaking through a site. Plants are put in the ground usually in the fall, giving their root systems time to grow and become established. Once summer arrives the new plants are sometimes difficult to spot and the flags and tape are used to identify them amid all the surrounding green. Irrigation will continue for three years until the plants are fully established and able to handle dry summers on their own. Growth is remarkble under these optimum conditions and a site that was once smothered by invasives, cleared to the ground and replanted will become a lush, dense, diverse habitat within a matter of two to three years. The return of birds and other fauna taking advantage of the enhanced habitat is almost immediate. Here is a list of the most common plants you will find at stewarded sites on Promontory Point: Trees: Douglas Fir Grand Fir Shore Pine Western Red Cedar Sitka Spruce Hemlock Red Alder Big Leaf Maple Madrona Black Hawthorne Cascara Elderberry Paper Birch Black Cottonwood Bitter Cherry Pacific Crab Apple Shrubs: Indian Plum Oceanspray Ninebark Red Flowering Currant Oregon Grape Snowberry Thimbleberry Red Osier Dogwood Vine Maple Serviceberry Huckleberry Highbush Cranberry Nootka Rose Baldhip Rose Hardhack Mock Orange Groundcovers: Sword Fern Bracken Fern Kinnickinnick Salal Trailing Blackberry Wild Flowers: Douglas Aster Long-leaved Avens Yarrow Columbine Goldenrod Pearly Everlasting Camus Bleeding Heart Fringecup Lupine Monkey Flower Golden-eyed Grass |
 Invasive Clematis & Blackberry  Under Restoration 
East Basin |